CREWE Vagrants maintained their 100% home record thanks to a first-half goal avalanche on Saturday.

The Vagrants have their home form to thank for a relatively safe mid-table position in the North league Division One, having snapped up maximum points in all five fixtures on home soil this campaign.

Defender Rob Jepson said: 'We are playing our best hockey of the season at the moment and we are pleased to go into the Christmas break with what was an excellent, morale-boosting performance.'

While Doncaster opened aggressively, winning a corner in the first minute and going close soon after, they were quickly put back in place.

Captain James Capper cracked a stunning hat-trick before the break, while Henry Weir and Tim Alexander also bagged in the onslaught. Weir notched another after the turnaround to complete the rout.

Inventive play from Dave Holland and Alexander sparked the goal-fest, combining well to tee-up Capper for an unstoppable drive.

Fast assaults led by Robin Cooper and Andrew Ashworth pegged the visitors back, before a scorching run by Luke Ramli set up Capper for his second on 12 minutes.

Four minutes later Weir touched home to make it 3-0 after a rapid exchange of passes. Doncaster responded with some attacking play, but were repelled effectively by Ian Ward and Jepson.

On 24 minutes Ramli slipped the ball through for Capper to crash high into the net, and on the half-hour mark Phil Morant crossed for Alexander, who made it 5-0.

Crewe continued to dominate in the second half, but were issued with a reminder that the opposition were still in a game when Doncaster struck the bar with a fearsome effort.

That served to ignite another blaze of forceful play from the hosts, with Jon Woodhart, Paddy Leese and Steve Bourne all going close. Weir netted the sixth with five minutes left and Ashworth missed a sitter in stoppage time.

Crewe 2nds failed to make the most of a decent performance as they went down 6-2 at Alderley Edge 3rds.

The hosts struck twice inside 10 minutes to give Vagrants a mountain to climb, and forwards Andrew Ticehurst and Neil Darling found the home keeper in fine form as they tried to hit back.

Good defensive work from Will Rowlinson and Chris Regan, along with a manof-the-match performance from Dom Bailey, could not prevent a third before half-time, but Crewe came out fighting and got a goal back thanks to Greg Allcock's blast.

They went 4-1 down, but Chris Regan's pin-point drag flick again gave his side a lifeline. But two more goals for the hosts ruined their chances. Crewe 3rds won 3-2 and the 4ths were 6-2 victors.